


Pretend

by LaoTzu



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Jet Didn't See the Hot Tea, M/M, This Ship Hurts Sometimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:22:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29730369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaoTzu/pseuds/LaoTzu
Summary: "But Jet had looked down to his cup with such a genuine kind of loneliness, such a bizarrely wounded expression, one that seemed he’d finally gotten the hint and given up, that Zuko had immediately regretted denying him anything. After all, it was just a sit down with some tea. He worked there anyway, right? What harm could it really do?"
Relationships: Jet/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	Pretend

**Moonlight** dyed green from the lanterns outside spilled in through the tea shops windows, the thin glass of Zuko’s room doing little to keep the cold from washing inside. It radiated itself in and under his blanket, every night it seemed, no matter how much he tried to avoid it.

He stared wistfully at the ceiling, wondering how his life had come to this, watching the shadows of the window panes occasionally flicker with the wind. When the shadow moved, the window creaking to confirm the disruption, Zuko didn’t sit up to see what it was. He already knew.

His eyes did glance, though, to Jet as he slinked down from the window and to the end of Zuko’s bedroll, where his feet sunk slightly into the bit of blanket that had crumpled there. He turned, the moonlight catching the angles on his face just right, and smiled. He always did, every time, and Zuko copied it ruefully, because it was just too beautiful a thing to not want to reciprocate. Even if it were for no other reason than to see it again.

Zuko had tried to put a stop this, he really had, but it was just too wonderful to want to stop. He’d said no to Jet’s gang offer, he’d said no to dinner with him, and, eventually, had said no to simply even having a cup of tea with him. But Jet had looked down to his cup with such a genuine kind of loneliness, such a bizarrely _wounded_ expression, one that seemed he’d finally gotten the hint and given up, that Zuko had immediately regretted denying him anything. After all, it was just a sit down with some tea. He worked there anyway, right? What harm could it really do?

But watching now as Jet kicked off his boots, so casually at home within Zuko’s bedroom in the dead of night, he knew the harm it could do. He’d let this go too far, but it was so easy to excuse. _Jet_ made it easy to excuse. He didn’t ask questions, and he didn’t pry. It seemed, by all accounts, Jet had accepted that Zuko was a man without any past at all, or, at least, a past he was willing to go without knowing. And Zuko supposed he was willing to do the same with him, but he didn’t know if that made it better or worse.

Because if he knew, _really_ knew Zuko, and what he was, and vice versa, this fragile net of lies they’d weaved with each other would unravel at best; at worst, knot together by the ends and trap both of them, damning and suffocating, inside. They both knew it. So, they both pretended.

But _man_ , was it so easy to pretend. When Jet crawled on top of him and looked down, his chestnut locks draped lazily in his face, it was so _easy_ to feel like he recognized him. The curl at the ends of his lips right before he craned his neck down to press his lips to Zuko’s, the way his hips followed in a low, fluid arc, the way he turned a cold room into a warm one, always, it all seemed so familiar. Because if there was one thing, one thing Zuko knew surely and truly, was that he knew Jet like _this_ , under these terms, and no one else had the honor of saying that. Jet knew him too, and that was enough sometimes, _most_ times, if he were being honest.

_If_ he were being honest…


End file.
